Tip VI: Surround Yourself with Pieces of Inspiration

A Series of Tips to Keep You Writing

5. Create a pantheon around your desk.

As the excitement of new beginnings wears off (Happy New Year!) it can be hard to maintain a good level of enthusiasm and energy. One way to help yourself fight the writing slumps? Surround yourself with inspiration. This could include: some of your favorite sentences from great writers, some of your favorite quotes about writing books (we love Toni Morrison’s “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”), and some of the books you hope to emulate.

Writers you admire have struggled with the same anxieties and doubts as you do. They’ve thought deeply about the same problems you face. They’ve produced books despite the difficultly, and these tokens will remind you of that, as well as remind you of the kind of writer you want to be.

We’ll be posting a series of writing tips that will help you keep writing, no matter where you are in your project. (Don’t miss one! Follow us on Medium). These tips were developed in response to issues faced by writers in our novel writing program. We think they’ll be helpful for you too.